People v. Romanoski

157 Cal. App. 3d 353, 204 Cal. Rptr. 33, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2210
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 20, 1984
DocketA017217
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 157 Cal. App. 3d 353 (People v. Romanoski) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Romanoski, 157 Cal. App. 3d 353, 204 Cal. Rptr. 33, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2210 (Cal. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Opinion

FLAHERTY, J. *

Alex Romanoski appeals from a judgment of conviction on two counts of burglary. (Pen. Code, § 459.)

Both the hearing on the motion to suppress evidence and subsequent trial were based on the preliminary hearing transcript. After the preliminary hearing but before trial, appellant agreed to waive his right to a jury trial in exchange for the guarantee that he would be convicted of at most two counts of no more than second degree burglary and sentenced to a maximum three years in prison. Pursuant to this agreement, the remaining three counts were dismissed. 1

On appeal, appellant claims that he did not expressly waive his privilege against self-incrimination, right to trial by jury, or right of confrontation upon submission of his case on the preliminary hearing transcript as required by Bunnell v. Superior Court (1975) 13 Cal.3d 592 [119 Cal.Rptr. 302, 531 P.2d 1086]. Respondent concedes that appellant did not waive his privilege against self-incrimination. This error alone requires reversal of the judgment. (People v. Davis (1980) 103 Cal.App.3d 270, 275 [163 Cal.Rptr. 22].)

Because of appellant’s possible retrial, we will address additional issues as presented by the briefs.

The preliminary hearing transcript indicates that on or about October 16, 1981, at 3:30 p.m., Mr. Allen Toy and his family left their home at 908 Junípero Way in Salinas. The Toys left an entrance to the house unlocked, as they were expecting a painter to visit their house.

When Mr. Toy returned home, he noticed that some belongings in his bedroom had been moved, and a video recorder, camera, jade and some cash were missing.

Officer John Butz of the Salinas Police Department investigated this burglary. He determined that a lamp had been moved near a window, and was able to obtain one fingerprint from that lamp.

*357 On November 25, 1981, Mrs. Ethyl Pray left her home at 114 San Miguel Avenue in Salinas and returned on November 28, 1981. On her return, she noticed that the back door of her house was open and the house had been ransacked. Several items, including silver service for 12, stereo equipment and jewelry were missing.

Prior to the two burglaries, on October 10 or 11, 1981, Detective John Bohannan of the Salinas Police Department was told by Detective Lee Ross-man of the West Covina Police Department that a warrant for the arrest of appellant was outstanding. According to Detective Rossman, appellant had been charged with an armed robbery in Los Angeles County, but failed to appear on the date set for trial. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest. The police also had information that appellant and Carol Ann Summers were frequent companions, and further, that Ms. Summers was in Salinas.

On December 1, 1981, Detective Bohannan saw a 1974 Ford, the two occupants of which he recognized as appellant and Ms. Summers. He followed the vehicle, and then attempted to stop it by activating his red lights. The driver of the vehicle accelerated, and a 70 m.p.h. chase of approximately two miles ensued.

After the vehicle stopped, the driver ran away from the officer, but was soon apprehended in a nearby apartment complex. Detective Bohannan then noticed some items in the back seat of the vehicle which he identified as property reported stolen from the Pray house in the police report of that burglary.

Appellant contends that the trial court erred by overruling his motion to suppress all evidence obtained in the search of the automobile incident to his arrest. Appellant claims the prosecution failed to prove the existence of a warrant for appellant’s arrest since neither the warrant nor a certified copy thereof was admitted into evidence. Accordingly, he maintains that all evidence obtained as a result of that arrest is inadmissible.

Respondent asserts that the admission into evidence of a copy of the warrant, in addition to testimony from Detective Rossman who saw the warrant and told Detective Bohannan of its existence, was sufficient to establish the warrant’s existence.

In spite of respondent’s assertion, a copy of the warrant was not admitted into evidence. Detective Rossman possessed a copy of a “memorandum of *358 the existence of a warrant,” but did not possess a copy of the warrant itself, nor was one ever actually admitted into evidence. 2

“It is well settled that while it may be perfectly reasonable for officers in the field to make arrests on the basis of information furnished to them by other officers, ‘when it comes to justifying the total police activity in a court, the People must prove that the source of the information is something other than the imagination of an officer who does not become a witness.’ [Citations.] To hold otherwise would permit the manufacture of reasonable grounds for arrest within a police department by one officer transmitting information purportedly known by him to another officer who did not know such information, without establishing under oath how the information had in fact been obtained by the former officer. [Citations.] ‘If this were so, every utterance by a police officer would instantly and automatically acquire the dignity of official information; “reasonable cause” or “reasonable grounds,” . . . could be conveniently fashioned out of a two-step communication; and all Fourth Amendment safeguards would dissolve as a consequence.’ [Citation.]” (Remers v. Superior Court (1970) 2 Cal.3d 659, 666-667 [87 Cal.Rptr. 202, 470 P.2d 11], quoted with approval and italics added in People v. Ramirez (1983) 34 Cal.3d 541, 551 [194 Cal.Rptr. 454, 668 P.2d 761].)

In People v. Wohlleben (1968) 261 Cal.App.2d 461 [67 Cal.Rptr. 826], the defendant had complained of the absence of the original arrest warrants and the introduction of secondary evidence of their existence without a proper foundation being laid. The court found that upon defendant’s objection as to the competency of the evidence of the warrants, it became incumbent on the prosecution to prove that the defendant was, in fact, the person named in the warrant. It was held that “[ujnless a foundation is laid for the use of other evidence, no evidence of the contents of a writing other than the writing itself is admissible.” (Id., at p. 466.)

*359 In Hewitt v. Superior Court (1970) 5 Cal.App.3d 923 [85 Cal.Rptr. 493], the court dealt with a similar situation. The Hewitt

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Bluebook (online)
157 Cal. App. 3d 353, 204 Cal. Rptr. 33, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-romanoski-calctapp-1984.